The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1887-09-06
RANDALL AND DANA.

In view of the policy advocated by
these leaders of public opinion, and the
record they have made in party issues,
it becomes quite difficult to ascertain
where they now stand or whittier they
are drifting. They are both Democrats,
one representative of a Democratic
constitution and a leader ofsthe House.
the other the editor of q leading
Democratic newspaper in the great
Democratic stronghold of the nation.
And yet, while the party to whom
ostensibly they owe their allegiance
advocates a reduction of the treasury
surplus by reducing the tariff, these
gentlemen are opponents of the high
tariff idea, and favor the revision of
internal revenue taxes as means OF
disposing of our surplus revenue.
When We reflect that the
internal revenue arises from taxes on
tobacco and liquors, both of which are
baneful luxuries, it would seem that the
proposition to release them from taxa
ton is entirely indefensible. 1t ap-
pears that the necessity of relieving the
people from the burden OF oYer-taxatlon
and the expediency of preventing cor
1uption and jobs On the treasury by
cutting off the surplus income, presents
to these statesmen the dilemma of &C.
vocating either first, the reduction OF
the tariff, or second, the abol:sALsn- OF
the internal revenue; and that OF these
two evils, for the latter cannot appear
as an unmixed good to them, they
choose What they deem to be the least.
Mr.. Randall may not have been DEM
ocratic in his course, but none may
object that he has not been consistent,
for he has opposed every at
tempt to reduce the tariff with
pertenacity worthy a much better
cause. He has been able, by reason Of
g respectable following of Pennsylvania
and other eastern Democrats to balk
the will of the Democratic majority;
and to this party abstructionist, II in
deed he is to be considered as a Demo
crat, must be attributed the failure of
the party to redeem its pledges. Under
the leadership of Mr.. William L. Scott
and other live Democrats Of the Key
stone State, it is possible that the pre-
tensions of Mr.. Randall to Democratic
orthodoxy may yet be repudiated. We
like Mr.. Randall, but We would like him
better if he were better Democrat. Is
he Democrat, or a Republican? Well,
in many important respects, it does ap
pear that a chasm lies between him and
his party, and that only a chalk line
separates him from the Republicans.
As for Mr.. Dana. the time
has long since gone by when
his right to speak for Democracy was
unchallenged or even admitted. His
paper has q vast number of readers; the
excellence of its columns and the vigor
of its editorials would secure that, but
we are not SC sure that one per cent. of
Mr.. Dana's readers would follow him
in his pro6tless political course. They
are not apt to forget that the defeat of
General Hancock and the party was
due to his unwise, if not trescberous,
thrust upon the eve of the election.
They are pretty apt, likewise, to re-
member his grotesque and perniclous
advocacy of Ben Butler in preference
TO the party candidate; nor are they
unmindful of the fact that Just now his
effort seems to be anything to beat
Cleveland. The influence of these two
men causes their disaffection and heter-
odoxy to be doubly unfortunate.